12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 
Wintering Plants in Old Cucumber Bed (W. F.).—' Take 
ont the decayed dung by all means, and fill up the space with coal- 
ashes, to plunge your potted plants in ; the manure would only tend 
to keep up a root action, which is to be avoided in winter. See what 
Mr. Beaton says to-day upon the subject. 
Recipes for Gourd Soup, &c. (A Lady Subscriber from the 
first). —We shall be obliged by your forwarding the recipes. All 
questions, but a few requiring consideration, have been answered 
that have reached us within ten days from September 27 th; there¬ 
fore, if yours remain unnoticed, the letter never came to our office. 
Setting Cucumbers (A Country Subscriber). —It is not neces¬ 
sary to impregnate the flowers of the cucumber for the purpose of 
obtaining its fruit, but it is when seed is your object. The potato 
murrain has not set in in the south, as you say it has in Cumberland, 
and where it has appeared to any extent it is only among the late- 
planted or the late-ripening varieties; every result is in favour of 
autumn planting. Apples are abundant in the southern counties, 
but pears generally have failed. Open the ground about five feet 
from the stem of your unfruitful, over-luxuriant, mulberry tree , and 
cut away its tap-root if it has one, or two or three of its main roots 
if it has not one; do this immediately. The Malta lettuce is very 
good for a summer crop ; it is a cabbage lettuce; we never heard it 
called by any other name. You will find the explanation of plants 
dedicated to each day at p. I/O of our first volume. The emphasis is 
on the first syllable of e/ematis, and on the third of cenofAera; ane¬ 
mone is correct, but anemone is the usual pronunciation. 
Nitrate, Muriate, and Sulphate op Ammonia (W. B., 
Sheffield ).—All these salts have been applied beneficially to flowers 
in small quantities. If used as a liquid manure, half-an-ounce to a 
gallon of water is sufficient. Sulphate of ammonia is said to have 
been applied in October to the soil destined to be planted with ra¬ 
nunculuses with great benefit to them. If applied in the form of 
powder, to be dug in immediately, one pound of any one of the am- 
moniacal salts must be sprinkled over thirty square yards. We know 
nothing of the compound manure you mention. 
List of Crocuses (F. C.). —You are mistaken, we have not given 
a long list of these flowers ; we will shortly publish a list of some of 
the best. Your other question next week. 
Persian Iris (0.).—Yours throws out many offsets but does not 
bloom. It is not unusual for it to produce numerous offsets, and the 
cause of not blooming is probably the want of proper soil; it delights 
in deep sandy loam, dry at the bottom. 
Shrubs for a Damp Place (Ibid). —Magnolias and the snowdrop 
tree will thrive best there. 
Eucomis undulata (Ibid). —This is probably the plant you in¬ 
quire about; it is a Cape bulb, and grows in light sandy loam. 
Ixias, Sparaxis, Tritonias, Watsonias, Trichonemas, and a few others, 
are treated as the Ixia, in sandy peat, to be potted now. Mr. Beaton 
will, ere long, give lists of fuchsias, verbenas, &c. 
Lihuid Manure applied Underground (J. D., Old Bromp- 
ton). —Your perforated zinc pipes will answer nearly as well as those 
made of clay draining pipes. You will oblige us by letting us know 
the result of the application both to your celery and asparagus. You 
will probably have to take up the pipes laid horizontally to clean out 
the sediment. We have no doubt of the application being beneficial. 
Wintering Fuchsias (G. A.). —You have a bed of young fuch¬ 
sias in pots, which you propose to winter by covering them with pots, 
and filling in between them with ashes, and to cover the whole with 
double mats during hard frost. But why take such trouble, as you 
have them in pots ? It would be much better to remove pots and 
all under cover; any shed or cellar will keep them with half the 
trouble, if you cover them with hay or straw to keep the frost from 
them. It is of no advantage to keep the tops of such young plants 
alive, as the roots will make better shoots next season. 
Gloxinias, Gesnerias, and Achimenes (A Reader from the 
beginning). —These are kept dry in a warm place in winter, and early 
in the spring are potted in fresh soil, and brought forward in a stove 
or hot-bed. They all do in the same compost—two-thirds sandy 
peat and one-third light loam; or they will do in peat and leaf-mould 
with sand; or in rough sandy peat only; the last is the safest for 
amateurs. A damp warm atmosphere is necessary, to grow them 
well, till the flower-buds appear, then they require a drier place, and 
they flower best in summer in a cool greenhouse. 
Japan Lilies (Ibid). —These (usually called Guernsey lilies) are 
perfectly hardy, and like a deep light soil; when grown in pots 
rough sandy peat is best for them. See Mr. Appleby’s account of 
the family, p. 309, also p. 291, vol. ii. 
Heating Pits (S .).—You cannot heat the two divisions at the 
same time by your arrangement of the flues and one fire; not, at 
least, without trouble and a constant attendance to move the dampers ; 
whichever flue heats the fastest when the dampers are drawn will 
carry all the smoke, and the other must be fed as soon as the first is 
hot enough. Give up the idea, and have the fire-place at one end of 
the range ; a front flue and one across each division at the farthest 
ends will then suffice, with a damper anywhere between the two 
ranges; by that damper you can regulate the heat, for the first or 
for the two divisions. You lose too much room by the return flues at 
the back, far more than what the extra heat is worth. 
Unfruitful Wall Trees (A. T. Blythe ).—Your main wall faces 
nearly due south; the earth is two feet above the level of a lane on 
the north side of the wall; the soil light; the trees do not bear. 
Mulching the whole border, and watering with pond water occasion¬ 
ally, from the middle of May to the end of July, are the best remedies. 
Rainbow Arrangement of Flowers (Ibid). —For your pur¬ 
pose the annuals mentioned at pages 13/ and 274 of our first volume 
are the best for flower beds in May. Lists of spring-flowering hardy 
bulbs have been given already, and Mr. Beaton will offer more advice 
on the subject immediately. 
Error.— At p.323, col, 1 , line 20 from bottom, for “one eye” 
read “ few eyes,” 
Distance of Plants from Glass (Ibid). —The plants in your 
pit during the winter should be six inches from the glass, but some 
of them must be more distant and some less, for they are of different 
heights. We have had some all but touching the glass. 
Chrysanthemums (Ibid). —These ought now to be in bud : of 
course you have not stopped any of them since the end of July. If 
you have, you nipt off the flower-buds. 
Petunias (W. H. G.). —You had resolved to treat these plants as 
annuals, and raise them from seed in the spring—abandoning the old 
plants and taking no cuttings from them. Your seedlings, however, 
are not worth looking at: the colour is good, but the size of none 
much exceeds that of a shilling, neither of those in your pots or bor¬ 
ders.—It is not in your power to improve them much, for seedling 
petunias never improve in shape or colour, and hardly in size, by cul¬ 
tivation. They turn out with all growers as they have with you— 
sometimes good, but oftener good for nothing. 
Night-blooming Stock (W. L. Ollard). —This, the Matliiola 
odoratissima , is worthy of all the care you can bestow on it. It is a 
half-hardy frame plant, and we have seen it survive the winter close 
under a wall in a light dry soil. It is, however, rather impatient of 
a pot. Have it potted soon in light mould—using a small pot—tie it 
to a neat stake and set it in the shade, say in a north window, for 
three weeks. After that allow it a sunny aspect, but do not confine 
it too long in a warm room. On fine sunny days place the pot out¬ 
side all day, and be sparing with the " atering-pot. March or April 
is the best time to strike cuttings from it in the usual way. 
Madame Destrez Rose (Clericus, Beds).— You say that buds of 
this inserted in June have produced healthy shoots now bearing flower 
buds. The circumstance is not unusual with gardeners. We have 
seen a bud inserted early in June, which formed a large head for a 
standard rose before the end of the season, and flowered from the 
second week in July. That section of free-growing Bourbons to 
which Madame Desprez belongs, if budded early in June, will unite 
to the stock sufficiently in three weeks : and if the shoot of the stock 
is then cut back, the bud starts, and is in bloom in less than a month. 
Anemones (A Cottage. Subscriber). —You have a box of anemones 
grown to about “ a couple of inches high, which appear to be stag¬ 
nated in their growth,” and you ask us their winter treatment. How 
did they come to be “ two inches high ” about the middle of Septem¬ 
ber? They should rather have been at rest then. We presume they 
were grown in the box last season, and you let the rains start them 
too soon. You must transplant them to a border at once, for the soil 
in the box does not suit them. 
Vines (W. Newton, Castle Bromwich). —Your vine leaves are no 
doubt infected with the prevailing mildew, for which the only cure 
known it would appear is sulphur. As to border making we will 
soon endeavour to assist you through The Cottage Gardener. 
Look at Mr. Fish’s remarks in a recent number. 
Suggestions (J. M .).—Some of your suggestions have been 
adopted ; others cannot be at present; and some we have no means 
of carrying out. 
Night-blooming Stock (Twig).—' This is the species referred to 
by our correspondent at p. 29 of our second volume. Some direc¬ 
tions as to its culture are given to-day, in answer to another corre¬ 
spondent. It is increased by young cuttings under a bell glass. 
Fernery (R. G. L .).—If you will refer to Mr. Appleby’s three 
papers at pp. 98 , 108, 128, in our first volume, you willfind full direc¬ 
tions for the construction of the fernery and the culture of the plants. 
For arum culture look to pp. 51 and 180 of volume 2 . For oleander 
culture also consult the Index of our first volume. All the cassias 
will grow w’ell either in light loam or loam and peat mixed. 
Late Strawberry (W., Yarmouth). —The best latest is the 
Elton. The White Alpine is small, but luscious, and will bear on 
until winter. 
Platform Planting (K. B., Beckenham ).—You will find the 
information you require in our ninth Number. There is a paper 
there on the subject, by Mr. Errington; though there is also much 
relative to the same subject in other parts of our first volume. 
Uniting Stocks (X. Y. Z.) —You may unite the bees of two stocks 
though situated at present in distant parts of the same apiary, or even 
of the same garden. 
Names of Plants (Clericus Sarisburiensis). —Yours is Loasa 
lateritia. (Lover of Flowers from Childhood). —We cannot be cer¬ 
tain of the fern from the specimen sent, but we think it is Polypodium 
effusum. (G. J. M., Gateshead). —Your seeds are those of Cantua, 
but we know of no such specific name as ticta. Cantua ovata is 
called Cantutica by the Peruvians. The flowers of the Cantua resem¬ 
ble those of the Gilia and Ipomopsis. The Cantuas are pretty 
greenhouse plants, with white or purplish flowers, all natives of Peru 
or Brazil. If the seeds were ours, we should sow some of them now, 
and some not until next spring. The soil they prefer is a mixture of 
equal parts of loam, peat, and sand. (A Cottager). —We wish even- 
one would send specimens to name in the neat and easilv-referred-to 
order you adopt:—I, is Centatirea cyanus (Garden Blue-bottle). 
2 , Linaria purpurea (Purple Toad-flax). 3, Achillea ptarmica plena 
(Double-flowered Sneezewort). 4, Lamium rnaculatum (Spotted 
Archangel, or Dead Nettle). 5, Stenactis speciosa (Shewy Stenactis). 
6 , is a syngenesious plant, but not in a condition to enable us to 
name it. 
London : Printed by Harry Wooldridge, 147 , Strand, in the 
Parish of Saint Mary-le-Strand; and Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of St. Mary Kalendar; and Published by William 
Somerville Orr, at the Office, 147 , Strand, in the Parish of 
Saint Mary-le-Strand, London.—October 4th, 1849 . 
